Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness

This is the best version of Angel of Darkness what is on GOG! It's fully patched, with extras, and save cloud! I can play in full HD, widescreen (without stretching), with Xbox controller! Works nice with Win10! Totally worth it!

If you have read the other 75 reviews, then you already know that AoD is not the best TR game in the series. The reasons for this can be summed up as follows: 1. shabby production values (lots of bugs) 2. Lack of traditional TR atmosphere and settings 3. AoD sometimes trades conventional TR difficulty for newly-developed frustrating gameplay 4. Plot is a bit Shallow All of these things are true, but possibly not to the extent that you have been led to believe. Furthermore, in spite of all of those flaws, I still had fun playing through AoD. I thought the new directions they experimented with in AoD were really interesting and that alone was enough to capture my attention for the game. I thought it was interesting to see the ideas that were put into the game, and AoD always felt to me like it one step away from being a real breakthrough for the series. Yes, it's too bad it didn't pan out, but it's really not as bad as it's made out to be! So, to sum up, I liked it because it was different and interesting, but if you run afoul of the game-breaking bugs or just hate the idea of a TR game with a different kind of setting or plot, then you likely hate this game.

This game was pretty much the final nail in the coffin of Core Designs time with Tomb Raider. People were getting sick of the same game being released over and over again around the time Chronicles was released, and Core Designs entry into the PS2 era was where people finally had enough with the series. Angel of Darkness, while boasting a nice improvement in graphics, removed everything that made early Tomb Raiders enjoyable. The control system in the earlier entries were very cleverly designed in tune with the environment to provide clever jumping puzzles and navigation. This was replaced with a clunky haphazard new control system which left you flinging yourself into chasms as a result of having absolutely no good way to gauge distance or time Lara's jumps. While this game did try and mess with the formula a bit, it pretty much removed all the soul from the series, and just left a terrible mess behind. Early in the game you're left wandering around some Parisian slums, collecting Euro's which never come to much use anyway. For the longest time you're left wondering why this is called Tomb Raider. It takes a stunningly long time to actually reach your first tomb, and when you get there it involves some of the most infuriating string of puzzle rooms ever. While a game like Tomb Raider 3 boasted heavy difficulty, nothing could match the battle the player has to have with the platforming controls in this game. For a series with already pretty poor combat comprised mostly of flipping around with machine guns, holding down the action button until things go dead, I'm shocked this game managed to somehow make that sticky and horrible too. Here it's pretty much stand still and hope everything dies. Fun. Unless you're a die hard Tomb Raider fan, I would pass this one up. The shiny graphics this boasted at the time look dated now. The plot is nothing special (honestly the plot of most Tomb Raider games don't have much to offer).

People are always very quick to hate on this game without actually taking the time to stop, think and appreciate it for what it actually is. Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness is drastically different from the usual Lara Croft experience, people should be informed of this before purchasing. The game takes on more of a stealth orientated mystery game as opposed to Lara's usual action packed platforming but really that's the games charm. Angel of Darkness is a dark, atmospheric and psychological experience, tapping into Lara's fears and her personality as a whole. It's ingenious storytelling is where it really shines, once the tutorial segment is over you'll be introduced to a gripping and exciting murder mystery epic that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Aside from it's astounding story the games soundtrack is also a great selling point and really adds to the dark atmosphere the game creates. To be honest if the "Tomb Raider" wasn't in the title I think this game would have been much better received by critics and gamers alike. Granted, it's controls could have used a bit of a spit and shine but on the whole Angel of Darkness is a game I would recommend to anybody looking to play a game with true interactive storytelling.